Mass Effect: Recreation
by BlackScleraCyanIris
Summary: Shepard and Tali'Zorah, happily married for eighteen years, take their children on a vacation to the Irakagei home world of Alshezo. Set eighteen years after the Reaper invasion. This story also tells a lot about the Irakagei and their culture. Sequel to Mass Effect: Reanimation. Rated M for language and some sexual content. Possibly violence as well.
1. Prologue

**Hello again. Ready for another story? This one is a sequel to Mass Effect: Reanimation (read it if you haven't yet), taking place nearly eighteen years after the Reaper war, starting a few days after the last chapter of Reanimation. This story is about Shepard and Tali, (who are happily married) taking a vacation to the Irakagei home world with their four children.**

**I've written this story for two reasons. One is to show Shepard's family, and the other is to show the Irakagei home world. I tried to show the Irakagei home world through my second story, Mass Effect: Opposition, but I was a bit disappointed with it, so I deleted it and decided to start over with this.**

**The story starts out on Rannoch, with the family planning their trip to Alshezo. As I have often suggested, read Mass Effect: Seclusion so you can fully understand the Irakagei.**

**Here are the ages of Shepard's and Tali's kids from oldest to youngest: Fifteen years (soon to be sixteen), fourteen years, twelve years, and nine years. **

**There will be some steamy romance between Shepard and Tali in the chapters to come. **

**Enjoy.**

"Oh, Keelah," Neila'Zorah vas Rannoch, the oldest child said, "Just one more day until the big trip!"

"I know," Pazu'Zorah, the third born, said in an exaggerated tone of exhaustion, "I know! You don't have to keep telling me!"

Neila was absolutely obsessed with the Irakagei. For a long time, she had wished to go to Irakagei space one day. Tomorrow was that day.

Neila and Pazu were sitting on the couch of their living room. Pazu was watching the newest Blasto vid, while his older sister read one of her many books about the galaxy's only Element Zero based life forms.

Neila looked up from her book and to her brother.

"But we're going to Alshezo tomorrow," she said with giddy excitement, "That's something anyone would be excited about!"

"True," Pazu said, "but it's all you've talked about for the past week. Besides, I'm trying to watch Blasto here!"

Neila looked to the vid screen. "You've seen this movie three times already."

"I like it."

"And I like the Irakagei!"

"You certainly like the men," Pazu said with a sly grin, "don't you?"

Neila blushed slightly. "So what? All women like them!"

"I've noticed," Pazu said.''

A door opened somewhere behind them, and the sound of footsteps could be heard, getting louder as they drew closer.

Neither Neila nor Pazu looked in the direction of the footsteps, as they already knew whom they belonged to.

"Hi, dad," they both said simultaneously.

Gabriel Shepard stopped behind the couch. "Are you watching that movie again, Pazu?"

"I like it."

"I can see that," their Human father said.

"So dad," Neila said with an eager look in her eye, "did you get us a guide yet?"

Alshezo, the Irakagei home world, was regarded by all other species as one of the most dangerous worlds in the galaxy. Its gravity was over eight G's, heavy even by Elcor standards. Its atmosphere was rich in carbon dioxide and dust form element zero. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis were a common occurrence. The world's most dangerous aspect, however, was the life that was native to it.

Not counting the Irakagei themselves, the native fauna were extremely dangerous. All animals, and even some plants, had evolved powerful biotic abilities. Even Krogan have learned to fear the planet.

To protect visitors, the Irakagei assign their own warriors as guides and protectors to any aliens visiting the planet's surface.

"Yup," Shepard said, "I called in a favor from an old friend, and a guide will be meeting us at the Rayya city spaceport tomorrow morning."

Neila stood up and wrapped her arms around her Human father. "Great! Thank you!"

"Your welcome, Neila," Shepard said, "and no standing on the couch."

Neila sat back down. "Sorry."

"So we're finally going to meet one," Pazu asked.

"You are," Shepard affirmed. Neila's body shook with excitement. A big grin covered her face.

"Where's Vala, Minna, and your mother," Shepard asked, "I haven't told them yet."

"Last time I saw mom and the squirt," Pazu said, "They were outside stargazing. As for Minna, well…" He pointed his finger toward the ceiling, "I think you can guess."

Minna was the second oldest sibling, and Vala was the youngest.

"Sheesh," Shepard said as he looked up, "How many hours can that girl sleep in a day? Oh, well. I'll tell her in the morning. I'll go and tell Tali and Vala now though."

"Okay," Pazu said.

"Oh," Shepard said, turning back to the siblings on the couch, "clean up and get to bed when the vid's over. We're getting up early tomorrow."

"No problem," Pazu said.

"You got it," Neila said.

"Glad to hear it," Shepard said. With that, he headed out the back door.

**Two hours later**

Shepard and Tali were in their bedroom, catching their breath from their umpteenth round of lovemaking. Luckily, the walls of their room were soundproof, so they did not disturb their kids.

"Wow," Tali gasped, "How many times have we done that?"

"You mean since we've been together," Shepard asked, "I haven't kept count."

"I bet if we had a credit for every time," Tali said, "We could build our own dreadnought."

"And then some," Shepard put in.

"Looking forward to tomorrow," Tali asked her husband.

"I sure am," Shepard answered, "How about you?"

"You know it," Tali replied. She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him in for a light kiss.

"Neila certainly is," Shepard pointed out.

"That girl," Tali said, "won't want to leave that planet."

"Knowing her," Shepard said, "She will probably want to learn some biotic techniques from the Irakagei."

Normally, interspecies reproduction was impossible, with the exception of the Asari. Shepard and Tali were the only ones who were able to do it, thanks to Shepard's implants that he got when he took control of the Reapers almost eighteen years ago. While their children were almost completely Quarian, there were a few traits that Shepard was able to pass on.

Their children's Human traits were largely in their personality. Neila, Minna, Pazu, and Vala were more individualistic than the average Quarian, a trait that the Humans were well known for. The only physical traits gained from Shepard were in their hair and facial structure.

All four kids had black hair, just like both of their parents. Neila, Vala, and Pazu had naturally curly hair, a trait that came from Shepard's side of the family. Minna got her mother's wavy hair. Pazu had a jaw structure similar to Shepard's, and Neila and Minna had his cheekbones. The facial traits were subtle, but detectable.

"We'd better get to sleep," Tali said, "Big day tomorrow."

"Agreed," her Human husband replied. He looked over her body, eyes dripping with desire. "But we'll continue this soon."

"Very soon," Tali added.

**Well, there's the prologue. In the next chapter, we head to Rayya city on Rannoch, and meet the Irakagei guide on the ship that will take the family to Alshezo. For those who have read my first fanfic, you will know who the guide is.**


	2. Guide

**Here's the next chapter. Shepard, Tali, and the kids are on their way to the spaceport, where their Irakagei guide awaits.**

**By the way, I don't go into much detail about the external appearance of Shepard's and Tali's house on Rannoch. I'd prefer to let you, the readers, use your imaginations on that one.**

With their luggage packed and everyone ready to go, Shepard lifted the large sky car into the air.

Their house stood fifteen meters from the edge of a tall cliff, overlooking one of Rannoch's oceans. The land surrounding the house was mostly dominated by a large amount of woodland.

Rannoch was more arid than Earth. Large areas of vegetation grew along large bodies of water, while desert dominated almost everything else.

When the Quarians and the Geth made peace during the Reaper war, the Quarians began to move back onto their home world. Most Quarians began their rehabitaion on a continent in the southern hemisphere. Once the Reapers were stopped, Shepard and Tali decided to settle somewhere in the northern hemisphere.

The sky car was a model designed to be quite fast, so it didn't take but an hour and a half for them to reach Rayya city. The Quarian live ship for which the city was named sat docked in the city's center Decommissioned, the gigantic vessel served as an important piece of Quarian history.

Down in the city streets, Quarians and Geth alike went about their business. Thanks to both Shepard and Tali, both races have been able to coexist. Though their peace was a little rocky for the first few years, the organic race and the synthetic one eventually started to get along better.

Both Shepard and Tali were always glad to see Quarians walking the streets without their masks.

Shepard spotted the spaceport, and steered the sky car in its direction. Numerous ships of various design sat docked with the large building. A Salarian merchant freighter could be seen taking off from the spaceport.

Shepard landed the sky car in the spaceport's parking lot. The family grabbed their luggage, exited the sky car, and headed into the port.

After a few minutes of verification by the spaceport bureaucrats, the family searched for the docking bay where their shuttle awaited.

"They said docking bay forty-nine," Vala asked, "right?"

"Ninety four," Tali corrected.

"What kind of ship will it be," Pazu asked.

"I think," Shepard said, "that it will be one of Irakagei design."

"A Mackchi-class shuttle," Neila interjected, "designed by the Irakagei. It was designed to transport aliens to Alshezo's surface."

"Very good," Tali said, "you've done your homework."

Vala turned to face Neila, and stuck her toungue out at her older sister. Neila got the sense that her little sister was thinking of her as a know-it-all.

Neila simply scrunched her nose at the nine-year-old in response.

After several minutes, the group found the path to docking bay ninety-four. They walked down a tunnel and came out into an open docking bay.

Sitting in the dock was a large ship about ten meters long. It was clearly of Irakagei design, sporting an elongated, flattened oval shape. The ship had rounded edges, with curved hatches on both the port and starboard side of the ship. The starboard hatch was open. The ship was about seven meters wide, and five meters tall.

"Yup," Neila said, "That's a Mackchi."

"It sure is big," Pazu said, "for a shuttle."

"Take it from me," Shepard said, "their fighters are larger."

Pazu's eyes widened from his father's statement.

_Damn,_ the young Quarian thought.

"Is that our guide," Vala asked pointing her finger.

"Where," Neila asked with enthusiasm, searching around the room.

"Over by the spaceship's door," Vala answered, pointing her finger towards the ship.

Everyone looked to where the youngest sibling pointed. Standing next to the shuttle's open starboard hatch was an Irakagei female, one whom Shepard and Tali knew all too well.

"Well," Tali said with a chuckle, "I can't say I saw that one coming."

Standing with her back pressing against the shuttle, legs out in front, arms crossed, tail swishing, looking in the family's direction, smiling, was none other than Nelavai Shental.

It was during the Reaper invasion that Shepard and the crew of the _Normandy _first encountered the Irakagei. Not only was Nelavai Shental the first Irakagei that Shepard saw with his own eyes, she was also the one who had saved his life*. Because of her, Shepard was able to return to Tali again.

***Read Mass Effect: Seclusion**

Tali looked toward Neila. Her oldest daughter was biting her lower lip, smiling as if it was the happiest day of her life. She would finally be meeting her first Irakagei.

Nelavai stood up straight and walked towards Shepard and his family. It was the first time that Shepard or Tali had seen Nelavai wearing something other than her battle suit. Rather than her usual skin-tight war suit, Nelavai was wearing what appeared to be civilian clothing, consisting of a pair of black pants and boots, and a deep blue short-sleeved shirt with what appeared to be a picture of an alien snake-like creature imprinted on it.

There was no mistaking who she was, though. Her long violet hair, orange eyes, and dark blue soul marks. Her eyes were particularly unique, as they seemed to gleam with the desire for battle. Her height was also a dead giveaway. She stood at six feet tall.

Neila immediately walked up to the front of the group, eager to make the tall alien's acquaintance.

A feminine voice suddenly sounded from the translator strapped to Nelavai's arm, lips remaining motionless.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite pair of apes."

"It's been a while, monkey," Shepard said.

Humans, Quarians, and Irakagei were referred to by the rest of the galaxy as the three primate races. The Irakagei considered the Humans and Quarians to be apes, while they thought of themselves as monkeys. The reason for this was the fact that the Irakagei had tails, while the other two primate species did not.

"A while for you, maybe," Nelavai said.

"Seventeen years," Tali said.

"Seventeen to you," Nelavai pointed out, "just over four years to me."

The time it took for Alshezo to complete an orbit around its primary stars was about four Earth years.

"Right," Shepard said, "almost forgot about that."

Nelavai turned her gaze to the eager young Quarian looking up at her.

"Huh," Nelavai said to Shepard and Tali, "You two really did have kids."

Neila just stood there, looking up at the tall Irakagei before her, wide-eyed and mouth agape.

"Neila," Tali said, "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Neila blinked, breaking out of her trance.

"Oh," she said, "Right! I…I'm Neila'Zorah vas Rannoch. It's a real honor to meet you!"

Neila held out her hand, and Nelavai took it with hers and shook it.

"It's a pleasure," the Irakagei warrior replied, "I'm Nelavai Shental."

Neila's eyes widened with surprise and her smile widened.

"Nelavai Shental," She asked, "THE Nelavai Shental?"

Nelavai looked up to Tali and Shepard.

"We've told them everything about you," Tali said, "You have a fan."

Nelavai looked back to Neila. "That's me," she said.

"Wow," Neila shouted, "This is so cool!"

Nelavai released Neila's hand and walked to the other three siblings. She stopped in front of Minna and held out her hand. Minna shook it with much less enthusiasm.

"Neila there is the oldest," Shepard said, "Minna here is the second oldest. She's a bit of a sleepy-head."

"I see," Nelavai replied, "Nice to meet you, Minna."

"Pleasure," Minna said simply.

Neila turned to Pazu. She was about to hold out her hand out when she stopped, noticing that he had a nosebleed.

"Hey," she said to Pazu, pointing her index finger to her own nose, "it seems that your…nose is leaking."

Pazu was staring at Nelavai as well, mesmerized, but not for the same reasons as Neila. Pazu was hitting puberty, and was transfixed by her voluptuous figure.

Pazu snapped out of his trance, and wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand. He blushed and ducked his head down in embarrassment.

Nelavai smiled and looked to Vala.

"Hi," the eager young Quarian exclaimed, "I'm Vala." Nelavai held her hand out, and Vala shook it with great vigor.

"Nice to meet you," the Irakagei replied. Vala gave a big, toothy grin.

"Is this the ship that will be taking us to Alshezo," Tali asked.

"Yup," Nelavai answered, "Is everyone ready to go?"

Neila turned to face the rest of her family, a flame of anticipation burning in her glowing white eyes.

"Gee," Shepard said in a mischievous tone, "I dunno. Are we sure we packed everything?"

"DAADDDD," Neila exclaimed.

"I'm kidding," Shepard interjected, "Yes, Major. We're ready to go whenever you are."

"Glad to hear it," Nelavai replied, "By the way, It's Brigadier General now."

"Congratulations," Shepard said.

With that, Nelavai led Shepard, Tali, and their four children onto the Mackchi shuttle, and sealed the hatch behind them.

**There's chapter one, not including the prologue. Stay tuned. **

**By the way, that nosebleed thing is a reference to a part of Japanese popular culture. You would often see it in anime or manga. It happens when a person becomes incredibly sexually excited.**


	3. Transit

**This chapter is centered on the trip from Rannoch to Alshezo. During the journey, Shepard and his family talk with Nelavai. You will learn a little more about the Irakagei in this chapter. **

The Mackchi shuttle was different than any other Irakagei ship Shepard had been on. The other ships were completely dark inside, because the Irakagei did not see into the electromagnetic spectrum like most other races did. They saw into the dark energy spectrum.

Rather than perceiving electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun, or any other light source, the light that the Irakagei sensed was emitted by gravity waves, generated by a sufficiently massive body. The dark energy frequency they saw in allowed them to see the light emitted by stars, as well as light generated by powerful dark energy fluctuations.

This shuttle had lights built into it. It was indeed designed for the transportation of other races.

The cabin in the shuttle was a large, curved space, with roughly twenty seats attached to the curved walls. A large orb big enough to hold a person dominated the center of the shuttle. It was connected to a curving wall that ran into the back of the ship.

"Wow," Neila exclaimed, her voice reverberating off of the walls, "Is that a cloister orb?"

"It certainly is," Nelavai said, "you have certainly done your homework."

"Are you flying the ship," Neila asked.

"Oh no," Nelavai said. She knocked her fist on the large orb.

An audible ding sounded from within the cloister.

"Whose in there," Pazu asked.

"Oh," Nelavai said, "her name is Pokoma. You'll have to forgive her, she's a little antisocial."

"I see," Shepard said.

"Don't worry, though," Shepard," Nelavai reassured, "She's a hell of a pilot. Now how about we strap ourselves in?"

Shepard and the others each selected a chair and strapped themselves into it. Tali and Shepard sat next to each other. Vala selected the seat next to her mother's. Neila and Minna sat next to one another, while Pazu sat across from Nelavai.

When the group boarded the shuttle, they had placed their luggage into several compartments imbedded in the floor.

"Okay, Pokoma," Nelavai said to the cloister orb, "We're ready to go."

Suddenly, the humming of engines sounded from the back of the ship. After a minute, the shuttle's departure was authorized, and the docking clamps holding it released themselves from the hull. The shuttle hovered in place for a second, then slowly began moving forward into open air.

As soon as the ship was clear of the dock, it rapidly accelerated upward into the morning sky. In seconds, it was clear of Rannoch's atmosphere; the curve of the blue planet was visible through the windows placed in the hatches. There was also a view screen at the front of the ship, feeding images from external camera's imbedded in the shuttle's bow.

"Bye-bye, Rannoch," Vala said, waving her hand at the port hatch window.

Tali chuckled and held her daughter's hand.

The shuttle kicked suddenly is accelerated to just above the speed of light, heading for the Tikkun system's mass relay. The image on the screen had changed from a starry night sky to a blurry distortion. In two minutes, the shuttle slowed down, and the view screen was dominated by a rapidly approaching mass relay.

"I love this part," Pazu said with a grin.

Once the shuttle got close enough, the mass relay shot out a burst of energy, enveloping the ship. In the blink of an eye, she Mackchi shuttle was shot through a corridor of mass-free space, almost instantly reappearing at another relay hundreds of light years away.

The shuttle spent almost ten minutes jumping from one relay to another. Eventually, the ship ended up in the Hydra system of the Argos Rho cluster.

The ship accelerated to FTL flight again, heading out beyond the Hydra system's Kuiper belt.

"Where are we headed to now," Pazu asked.

"If I remember right," Shepard said, "We're heading to the relay in the Griffin system.

"That's right," Nelavai said, "from there, we'll head to the Antama system, where a jumper will be waiting for us."

"Antama," Neila said, "That's where mom and dad first met you, right?"

"Yes," Nelavai affirmed, "On Lokoshia."

Tali shuddered at the memory. "That was a scary time," she said, "the _Normandy_ crash landing on that planet."

Shepard took his wife's hand, and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Dad said that you arrived just in time," Neila said to Nelavai, "just how close was it?"

"Too close," Nelavai said, "If I had come one second later…"

"That reminds me, Nelavai," Shepard said, "This is the first time I've seen you wear something other than that suit of yours."

"Yeah, well," Nelavai responded, "I am technically on shore leave. Don't really need it."

"Shore leave," Shepard asked, "You are our warrior guide, right?"

"I am," Nelavai said, "but if I were on duty, this assignment would go in the records. The Empress figured that this would better conceal your presence, so you and your family can have some personal space."

"When she repays a favor," Shepard said, "She repays it."

"Favor," Neila asked, surprised, "How did you win a favor from the Irakagei Empress?"

"By stopping the Reapers," Shepard said, "Shortly after I seized control of them, the Empress said that she owed be a debt, not only for saving her people, but for setting her free."

"Free," Vala asked.

"I see," Neila said, "She had spent over fifteen-hundred years preparing the Irakagei for the Reaper invasion."

"And now it's over," Nelavai said, "and she was finally able to relax again, thanks to your dad over there," she jabbed a thumb in Shepard's direction.

"Wow," Pazu said, "So that's what you meant when you said that you called in a favor from an "old friend"."

"Yup," Shepard affirmed.

After about twenty minutes, the shuttle dropped out of FTL flight and headed for another mass relay. Soon, the family was in the Antama system.

The Antama system was the nearest star to the Norma Pit that had a mass relay. The Norma Pit was approximately one hundred and sixty light years from the Antama system.

After the Reaper war, the Irakagei colonized the Antama system, using it as a port with the rest of the galaxy. While they had colonies on most of the system's worlds, Lokoshia, the system's only garden world, was left alone.

When Shepard and the crew of the _Normandy_ first arrived there nearly eighteen years ago, the Irakagie and the Reapers were engaged in ship-to-ship combat above Lokoshia. Eventually, the Eezo-based organics chased the gigantic sentient starships down to the planet's surface and finished them off.

Remains of both Reaper and Irakagei ships still littered the surface. The Irakagei used the world as a battlefield memorial.

Lokoshia served them no other purpose. The flora and fauna weren't even good for eating, as their biological makeup was completely different from the Irakagei.

The shuttle flew around along the system's edge, and eventually arrived at its destination. An elongated ship, approximately one and a half kilometers in length, rapidly grew in size on the view screen as the shuttle flew toward it.

"What is that thing," Vala asked.

"It's a jumper," Nelavai answered, "It will take us to the Norma Pit."

A doorway opened in the side of the giant ship, and the shuttle flew into it. The interior was dark. A docking clamp secured the shuttle in a small enclave. The doorway sealed shut.

"So what now," Vala asked.

"Once all other ships heading to the Yame system are secured, "Nelavai answered, "The jumper will activated its mass-free drive and jump to the Yame system."

After several long minutes, everyone heard noises originating from outside of the shuttle.

"Right on schedule," Nelavai said.

The thousands of Irakagei who crewed the jumper had secured themselves into their respective cloister orbs and biotically linked their nervous systems with the ship. Their minds became linked, but remained separate, unmerged. If their minds became one, then the crew would lose all sense of individuality.

The crew of the jumper channeled their biotic power into the ship's enormous mass effect core, amplifying its output. Soon, the jumper, and everyone in it were wrapped in an envelope of mass-free space.

After the ship's computer calculated the distance to the Yame system, and determine the amount of thrust required to get there, the commander of the jumper commanded the ship to accelerate.

After three seconds, the jumper decelerated and came to a stop. The jumper's commander ordered the mass free drive to deactivate, and the crew ceased channeling their biotic powers.

The jumper had arrived in the Yame system.

Shepard, Tali, and Nelavai were unaffected by the sudden jump. The juvenile Quarians, however, had clearly been taken by surprise.

Neila, Pazu, Minna, and Vala appeared to be queasy. Shepard remembered the first time that he had transited on a ship with a mass-free drive. It had affected him in much the same way.

"Wow," Neila said, struggling not to gag, "was that the mass-free drive?"

"Yes," Nelavai said, "it was."

Neila quickly regained her composure, and a new flame began to shimmer in her white eyes.

"Does that mean," she asked, "that we're in the Yame system?"

"We're here alright," Nelavai said.

A thud sounded from outside the shuttle, followed by another, this one much closer. The docking clamp had released the ship. The Mackchi shuttle began to move backwards, out of the small opening in the jumper.

As soon as the shuttle was clear of the jumper, it spun to face the inner Yame stars.

"Wow," Neila said, looking at the forward view screen.

In front of the ship was a bright red point of light. To the right was a brighter point of light.

The light to the right was the Yame outer stars, a pair of red dwarf stars that orbited the two primary red dwarfs at the center of the system. The shuttle was at the edge of the Yame system.

The ship began accelerating toward the smaller point of red light, heading deeper into the system.

"We'll be passing the inner suns," Nelavai said, "Alshezo is currently on the other side of them."

"Which planet is Alshezo again," Vala asked, "the third one?"

"The fifth planet," Neila corrected.

"Oh," Vala said in response.

Before long, the red pinpoint of light ahead split off into two light sources. The two stars could be seen.

"This is so cool," Neila said.

"Hmm," Minna mumbled.

The Yame inner stars soon vanished from view, and the shuttle continued to move. Within moments, the ship dropped out of FTL flight.

On the view screen was a distant dark blue planet, joined by two of its three moons.

"There it is," Shepard said, "the Irakagei home world."

Neila was speechless. For a long time, she fantasized going into Irakagei space. Now she was looking at their home world with her own eyes.

"What does "Alshezo" mean," Minna asked. This caused everyone but Neila to look in her direction. Minna did not often say more than three words in a single sentence, and she seldom volunteered a question.

"Mean," Nelavai asked.

"The planet's name," Minna said, "What does it mean?"

"I see," Nelavai said, "Well, this is a rough translation, but it basically means "Temper Everlasting.""

"I see," Minna replied.

The planet grew in size as the shuttle accelerated towards it.

**Here are a couple of Irakagei fun facts for you:**

**One: The name, Irakagei, is a combination of two words from two separate languages. Ira is a Latin word that means wrath. Kage is a Japanese word that means shadow.**

**Two: The cloister orbs on Irakagei ships were inspired by the orb from the manga, Gantz.**

**Hope you're enjoying this so far. **


	4. Alshezo

**In this chapter, you get a detailed description of the Irakagei home world. In later chapters, you will see the surface. For now though, the family remains in orbit.**

Neila's heart was racing. Directly ahead, closing rapidly was the Irakagei's world of origin. A world that was regarded as one of the rarest, as well as one of the most dangerous jewels in the galaxy.

Alshezo.

The planet was over twice the size of Rannoch (and Earth), and had thirty times the mass. It also had eight times the gravity.

On most high-gravity garden worlds, most life forms would evolve strong muscles to stand up in the gravity, but they would also be very slow. The Elcor were one such species.

The ecosystem of Alshezo, however, was different. Because of their unique biochemistry, all native fauna, including the Irakagei, had attained a level of biotic ability that was previously believed to be impossible.

Most life on Alshezo had an advanced nervous system that allowed them to tap into their full biotic power. At the center of this nervous system (second to the brain that is) was a small nerve cluster housed within their bodies. In the case of the Irakagei, this nerve cluster was located behind the sternum, between the lungs. It was about the size of a jawbreaker.

This nerve cluster was simply called the core, and it was, in essence, exactly that. It was the organic equivalent of an Element Zero core. This core allowed the fauna of Alshezo to lighten their mass, and move rapidly in the high gravity of their home world.

The planet ahead was largely covered in a deep blue ocean. It reminded Neila of Earth, the Human home world, except Earth's ocean was a lighter shade of blue. Several continents and numerous islands of varying size were distributed around the planet. Unlike the continents of Earth, which were largely green in color, these continents were a deep red. Any part of the land that wasn't red was covered by snow or ice.

Because of the planet's great distance from its primary stars, the flora of Alshezo has evolved to be thermosynthetic.

Neila knew of only one other world with thermosynthetic plants; a moon called Caleston.

Unlike the photosynthetic plants of most worlds, which used sunlight to power their chemical reactions to produce food, the plants of Alshezo use heat generated by the many volcanoes scattered across Alshezo. During these eruptions, when the plant life absorbs the heat, they end up producing waste heat, which they expel. This waste heat is absorbed by neighboring plants, which also produce and expel waste heat. This cycle allows the plants to survive for a long time between volcanic eruptions.

Alshezo's distance between its neighboring worlds, Quanjine and Valdai, was very small. When Alshezo passed on of these planets as it orbited the Yame stars, the gravity of one world would influence the other, causing tidal stresses beneath the surface. These tidal stresses were what caused Alshezo's frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Neila could see two of Alshezo's three moons.

All three of Alshezo's moons were roughly half the size of the Earth, and all were volcanic. The moons orbited in such close proximity to one another, as well as to their parent planet, that tidal stresses often scrambled the moons' interiors, and caused eruptions large enough to be visible from Alshezo's surface.

Neila had done her research well and knew the names and facts of all three moons. The moon of Navude was the closest moon to Alshezo, as well as the second largest. Its proximity to the planet was one of the major contributors to Alshezo's frequent quakes.

The second moon was called Kominavu. It was the smallest of the moons. The furthest and largest moon was called Haidu. Because of its orbital position, it was the least volcanic.

Unlike the two inner moons, Haidu orbited Alshezo in retrograde. This suggested that Haidu was probably a planetoid captured by Alshezo during the Yame system's formation.

Within four days, the three moons would align with one another. The Irakagei treated this occurrence as a holiday, one that came once every few decades. This holiday was one of the reasons Shepard and Tali decided to pick Alshezo for a vacation. This would be the first time that any aliens witnessed this holiday, and it would be a while before they got to see it again.

And they both knew that no one wanted to see it more than their oldest daughter.

"I can't believe that this is really happening," Neila said with excitement.

"Okay, guys," Nelavai said, "It's safe to unstrap yourselves now."

Without any hesitation, Neila undid her straps and moved to the forward monitor. Everyone else unstrapped themselves as well, though with less vigor.

The ship was now closing in on Alshezo, as the bulk of the planet took up the entire view screen.

Neila moved to one of the side hatches and looked out of the window.

"This is better than a vid," she said.

Numerous Irakagei ships were orbiting the planet. Many of them were warships.

"There must be hundreds of them," Neila said, referring to the ship.

"Probably thousands," Shepard said.

Neila suddenly squealed with excitement as two Shoki fighters passed by, flying off at high speed.

Suddenly, the shuttle reoriented itself, and Alshezo was below the bottom of the ship. The planet's curved horizon was visible in both windows and the forward screen.

"Hey, miss Shental," Pazu asked, blushing. He was nervous when talking to attractive women.

"Yes," the Irakagei replied.

"Are you from Alshezo?"

"Me? No, I'm from a moon called Tekova."

"I've read about that place," Neila interjected, "Isn't it a popular tourist site?"

"Yeah," Nelavai answered, "the ecology is largely Eezo based, like my people, except it is also partially based on Boron, rather than Carbon. The moon is a great scientific wonder."

"Which domed city did you grow up in," Neila asked.

"Gogovi," Nelavai answered.

"What star system is Tekova in," Tali asked.

"Xisayu. It's a binary system about twenty three light years from here."

"Cool," Pazu said.

Nelavai shifted her attention to the screen.

"Hey," she said, "Check it out." With a few taps of her omni-tool, Nelavai zoomed the image in on an Irakagei warship.

"Hey," Shepard said, "I know that ship."

"The _Tsuzuani_," Nelavai said.

"Awesome," Neila said, barely able to keep herself from shouting, "The flagship of the Irakagei armada!"

The _Tsuzuani_ was an Irakagei super dreadnought. It was one of only six ships in its class. The super dreadnought was over four kilometers long, twice the length of a Reaper capital ship. Its main cannon fired powerful mass-effect fields, usually in the form of a dense singularity that penetrated ships with ease.

Its secondary weapon was also very infamous. The super dreadnoughts were equipped with a powerful laser beam that could fire at Gamma-ray frequencies. The energy required to fire the Gamma laser was equal to the amount of energy released from a nuclear explosion. Because of this, the laser impacted its target with the same amount of heat and force as a nuclear bomb.

The screen zoomed back out, returning to normal magnification.

"That's the Empress's ship," Shepard said.

"Amazing," Neila said, "This is by far the best vacation ever!"

Nelavai pointed her tail to the screen. "There's our destination."

The image zoomed in to a large space station above the planet. Kominavu dominated the view behind it, volcanic eruptions wracking the surface.

"The Haivana space station," Neila said.

The Haivana station was basically a hotel built in orbit that catered to alien visitors. Staying on Alshezo's surface was too dangerous and too expensive. The station was roughly seven kilometers long, and four wide. Its height was roughly one hundred and twenty meters.

The station was mostly a mix of spherical and cylindrical structures. The cylinders connected with the spheres. The outer hull was a dark green.

Specific areas of the stations were reserved for particular species. One section catered to most carbon-based races, while another serviced ammonia based races, such as the Volus.

"Venshua made sure," Nelavai said, "that you got a room with a good view."

"Where are you staying," Shepard asked.

"They have rooms," Nelavai explained, "made for the guides. If you need me for anything, I won't be far away."

"That's good to know," Tali said.

As the shuttle approached the station, the view screen zoomed out. Before long, the Haivana station dominated the screen on normal magnification. With a few maneuvers, the Mackchi shuttle docked with the station.

**There's Alshezo's description. In the next chapter, the family gets settled into their hotel room. There might be some steamy romance with Shepard and Tali in it.**

**Irakagei fun fact: Irakagei blood is a dark pink color.**

**Irakagei fun fact: Eleven planets orbit the inner Yame stars. Five planets orbit the outer Yame stars. Alshezo is the fifth planet in the inner Yame system.**


	5. View

**In this chapter, the family gets settled into their hotel room on the Haivana space station in orbit above Alshezo. Later in the chapter, there will be some steamy romance with Shepard and Tali.**

Everyone on the shuttle began removing his or her luggage from the storage compartments in the floor of the Shuttle. Nelavai pulled out what appeared to be a small briefcase from one compartment. From another, she pulled out a long, black rod, one that Shepard recognized.

"You brought your sword," he asked the Irakagei, "I thought you were on shore leave."

"I am," Nelavai said, "but it is still my job to protect all of you during your stay. Besides, I never leave home without this baby."

"Cool," Neila said, referring to Nelavai's sword, "That's your sword? Can I see the blade?"

Nelavai held the black rod in front of her. The rod ran parallel to the floor. A sudden distortion surrounded the Irakagei warrior, and the sword's black outer covering broke into several shards, which folded over one another, moving back to the sword's hilt. The folded shards settled between the sword's hilt and blade, forming a hand guard.

Too Shepard, the blade of the sword looked very similar, if not identical, to that of a Japanese katana.

Nelavai moved the blade around, letting the eager young Quarian see it from different angles. Pazu moved up to look at the blade as well. After a moment of gazing, Nelavai commanded the shards to spread out over the blade and reconnect. The sword was sheathed again.

"Keelah," Neila said, "This vacation keeps getting better and better!"

Soon, everyone grabbed their luggage and stepped out of the ship's starboard hatch, and walked through the docking tube and into the Haivana station.

Nelavai had explained that Pokoma, the Mackchi's shy pilot, had contacted the station as the shuttle approached it and cleared the reservations. This removed the need to check in at a lobby.

The family stepped into a wide, oval-shaped hallway that was lit blue by lighting in the walls. Individuals of various races walked the hall, most of them with an Irakagei warrior.

Shepard figured that those warriors were guides as well.

Other Irakagei walked the halls as well. Several of them wore what appeared to some kind of uniform. Shepard almost didn't notice this, because each individual that wore them had a uniform that was different in color or pattern than any other one. It reminded Shepard of the battle suits that Irakagei warriors wore. They were the same kind of suit, but each appeared to be specially customized. Shepard decided to ask Nelavai about this.

"Irakagei," the guide explained, "can easily cooperate with one another as a group, but we don't total conformity. While we might be a part of a specific group, like the warriors in my case, we still like to distinguish ourselves, to show that we are still individuals. This is especially important to the warriors, because it keeps our morale up. If we're going to fight in a war and risk our lives, we prefer to go out and fight wearing what we like."

"I see," Shepard said. Nelavai's answer satisfied not only his curiosity about the Irakagei's choice of clothing, but also about their many varying hairstyles. In the Alliance military, everyone had to either cut his or her hair or tie it up. The Irakagei did not do this, and were allowed to wear their hair as long as they pleased, and it whatever style they preferred.

Nelavai led the family through a door at the end of the hallway into a large spherical chamber. Along the walls were many walkways, where the hotel's many rooms were. The doors into the individual rooms were spaced pretty far apart, suggesting that each room was large.

The family took an elevator to the seventeenth floor, and Nelavai led them along the walkway to one of the many circular doors distributed along the walls. On the door was the room number, written in several different languages.

Shepard and Tali could both read and speak the Quarian language, Khelish, and the Human language, English. All four of their children grew up learning both languages. The family could read the English and Khelish text on the door.

The room number was 4492.

Nelavai reached into her pocket and pulled out the door's key card, and handed it to Shepard. She also gave him the number of her omni-tool in case any of them needed anything. With that, she bid them a good day and proceeded to find her own room on another section of the station.

"4492," Pazu said, reading the door number. He turned and took a look around the large chamber. "I wonder how many rooms this station has."

"Why don't you go count," Neila suggested.

"Not a chance," Pazu snapped. Neila simply grinned.

"Alright, kids," Shepard said, sliding the key card into a slot in the side of the door, causing it to iris open, "let's get settled in."

Everyone walked into the room. Everyone was dumbfounded by the size of it. The room that they had entered appeared to be a living room, with several couches and a large vid screen. As everyone looked around, they discovered six bedrooms. Five of them were in a small hallway, while the sixth was located on the left side of the suite.

Earlier, Nelavai had explained that there were many different configurations of hotel rooms that suited specific parties of guests. This one was designed for a couple and five children. The larger room was for the parents.

Before long, all the kids selected a bedroom and quickly unpacked. Shepard and Tali began unpacking in their room as well.

Tali pulled out several articles of clothing from one of her suitcases and put them in a dresser. Shepard did the same.

Tali and Shepard soon started unpacking the gear that they would need when they decided to head down to Alshezo's surface. Shepard pulled out a hard suit manufactured by Devlon Industries. The suit had light armor plating, and was solid black.

Tali pulled out her old environmental suit that she always wore during their fight with the collectors, and again during the Reaper invasion.

"Wow," Shepard said, looking at her suit, "Talk about memories. I haven't seen that in years."

"It has been a long time," Tali agreed.

After unpacking, the family looked around their suite.

Shepard was confused about something. Nelavai had told him that their room had a view, but all Shepard could see was a featureless wall.

Neila looked around the suite and seemed to find something.

"Ah ha," she said as she picked up a little remote with many little buttons. She held it up to the wall and pressed the large green button in the middle. The featureless wall suddenly changed. Pixels of light seemed to ripple across the wall for a second and settle down and form an image.

The family was looking at Alshezo through the view of external sensors placed on the outer hull of the space station. The planet looked immense beneath them. Kominavu hung high above the planet's horizon.

Vala ran up to the screen and pressed her face and hands against it, as if she was looking out of a window.

"Wow," the youngest Quarian gasped, "It's so pretty!"

Thousands of Irakagei ships could be seen in the distance. Some hung in orbit, others flew down to Alshezo's surface. Some ascended from the planet and flew away into the void. Every so often, Mackchi shuttles could be seen flying away from the station, or coming at to dock with it.

Neila looked over the remote and pressed a different button. The image changed into a different spectrum of light. A false color image of the infrared spectrum covered the wall. Kominavu glowed intensely as volcanoes erupted on its surface.

Much of the land on Alshezo seemed to glow as well. Shepard reasoned that the light from below was caused by local plant life emitting waste heat.

Neila pressed the large button again, and the wall returned to the previous image. She quickly pressed another button, and the picture changed again. This time, the image remained in the visual spectrum, but seemed to change viewpoints.

The viewer seemed to be able to tap into visual feeds from any external sensor on the station. This time, the planet was no longer visible. Instead the family was looking toward the suns, high above the planet. Navude dominated much of the left half of the screen. Lakes of lava glowed intensly on its night side.

"Cool window," Pazu said.

Neila pressed the big button again, returning to the feed of the sensors that were housed on the outer hull directly outside of their own suite. She pressed the button one more time, and the image vanished, taking on the appearance of a wall once again.

**Fourteen hours later.**

Tali sat in a chair in her bedroom, looking at the viewing wall's image of the planet below. A few minutes ago, she had taken a shower, and now her husband was taking one.

The family's first day was spent looking around the orbital hotel. The station alone was a site to behold. Being surrounded by multiple species on a single station reminded Tali of the old days on the Citadel.

Not only did the station have thousands of hotel rooms, it also had several dozen restaurants that catered the food of many different species. Many stores from dozens of alien companies had even set up shop.

_The Irakagei have gone to a lot of trouble to make aliens feel welcome._

Apparently, the lunar alignment event had drawn in quite a crowd of alien tourists. Tali could certainly understand their eagerness. It would be the first time that any species has viewed this major Irakagei day of celebration.

The station was now on the dark side of the planet. Down below, Tali could see Alshezo's continents glowing deep, brilliant carmine. The view was breathtaking.

The sound of running shower water ceased, and Tali could hear her husband moving about the bathroom. After a few minutes of anticipation, she heard the bathroom door open. In less than ten seconds, Shepard had moved up behind her chair, knelt down, and placed his face on her left shoulder.

"Quite a view," he whispered to Tali, "isn't it?"

"Gorgeous," Tali said. She turned her head to face Shepard, and raised her left hand to his cheek. She urged his head to turn to face her. She looked deep into his vermillion eyes, and kissed him.

Both of them moaned with pleasure. When their lips parted, Tali looked down and noticed that her Human had not put on any clothes. She instinctually smiled as she scanned his body. She eventually met his eyes again.

Tali stood up from the chair and embraced Shepard, connecting her lips to his again.

Tali had turned the bedroom lights off when she turned the screen on. The dim orange light of Haidu was the only source of illumination in their large bedroom.

The Human man and the Quarian woman slowly moved to the large, circular bed. Unlike Shepard, Tali wore a long, black robe.

Tali placed her hand on her Human love's well toned chest, and pushed him onto the bed.

Shepard chuckled as he landed on his back.

"I love it when you do that," He teased.

"So do I," she said, still standing above the bed. She made a picture frame with her fingers, which surrounded Shepard's body from her point of view. "I have an excellent view from up here."

Tali unwrapped the belt around her robe and dropped it. She put her hands around the robe's collar and parted its folds. She dropped it onto the floor, and stood before Shepard in her naked glory.

"And I know," she added, "that you like the view from down there."

Shepard sat up and supported himself with his arms behind him. Tali knelt down on the bed and crawled to him like a feline. Their lips met once more. The Quarian placed her hands on her Human and pushed him back down.

Shepard moved a hand up to her chest and fondled her breasts. She cooed softly in response, and moved her right hand down to his groin, causing him to groan.

"Oh, Shepard," Tali sighed, "I love you so much."

"And I love you, Tali."

"I will never get tired of doing this with you," Tali hummed.

Tali and Shepard intertwined their legs, and connected their loins, entering a mutual state of bliss once again.

**There is chapter five. When I said there would be a scene of romance, please note that I said steamy, not trashy. I'm not comfortable writing trashy, at least not yet. Hope I didn't disappoint anyone because they were expecting a so-called "Lemon" scene.**

**Anyhow, in the next chapter, the family journeys down to the surface of Alshezo. I hope my descriptions of Alshezo and its native life forms have built up some anticipation about the planet.**

**Irakagei fun fact: The reason Alshezo's continents glow in the night is because of the thermosynthetic plants. When they metabolize heat, it causes them to glow. When a large amount of them cover a wide area, the light can be seen from space. Given the Irakagei's unique eyesight, they cannot see this light. This is a good thing, because they might have trouble sleeping otherwise.**

**Irakagei fun fact: The Irakagei's powerful biotics allow them to walk on just about any surface, including on walls and ceilings.**


	6. Over the surface

**Moment of truth. This is the chapter where the family first heads down to Alshezo's surface. Some aspects of the planet and the life on it were concepts I've long since planned out, while I'm making up others as I go.**

**This chapter focuses on the trip down and on a bit of Alshezo's wilderness and natural geography. In the next chapter, the shuttle touches down in a city.**

**The chapter opens with the family boarding the shuttle. **

**I hope that this was worth the wait.**

The family woke early, primarily because Neila had set the alarm clock and woke everyone up. No one was more eager to go to the surface than the oldest daughter of Tali'Zorah and Gabriel Shepard.

They were about to head to Nelavai's room to wake her up, but discovered that she was already waiting for them outside of the hallway, carrying her sword and her briefcase. After a quick breakfast at one of the hotel's restaurants, everyone headed back to their Mackchi shuttle.

The entire family was wearing environmental suits. The gloves on their suits were removed, so that they could feel the environment.

At the Empress's recommendation, Shepard and Tali had packed some firearms for the trip. Most alien visitors were urged by the Irakagei to bring them, as Alshezo could be very unpredictable.

Tali brought a Geth plasma shotgun and a specialized arc pistol. Shepard brought his favorite Predator heavy pistol, complete with upgrades for ammunition capacity and a high-caliber barrel.

At a young age, Shepard had taught all four of his kids basic hand-to-hand combat. All four of them quickly mastered it, particularly (and somewhat ironically) Minna.

Neila was the only one of the siblings who had biotic powers. Shepard had taught her how to use them, and she was very skilled at it.

After everyone had strapped into their seats, the shuttle's antisocial pilot detatched from the docking tube of the Haivana orbital hotel and accelerated it down towards the Irakagei home world.

The shuttle destination was Kurivinto, the capital city of Alshezo. It was located on the continent of Xaran in the northern hemisphere.

The Irakagei had classified Xaran as a "cluster continent." It was basically a collection of large landmasses that were clustered together. The layout of the individual sub-continents that made up Xaran gave the continent a spiral appearance.

The shuttle rocked violently as it hit the atmosphere. Vala yelped in response, and Tali took her hand to calm her down.

The shuttle slowed as it passed through the violent upper atmosphere. After two minutes, the ship passed into the calmer lower layers.

"Now that was a ride," Neila exclaimed.

"Tell me about it," Nelavai agreed, "I never get used to that, no matter how many times I pass through it."

"Can we unstrap now," Shepard asked.

"Go ahead," Nelavai answered, "But remember not to take your breathers off. And make sure you're supporters are active."

Everyone unstrapped themselves from their seats and stood, except for Minna, who only unstrapped. Nelavai moved to a console on the side of the starboard hatch and pressed a few buttons. The ship began its atmospheric pressure equalization. In a few seconds, the cabin's air pressure was equal to that of Alshezo's. The suits of Shepard, Tali, and their children equalized their internal air pressures with that of the environment around them.

"Okay," Nelavai said, "We're now two hundred meters up. It's safe to open the hatch now."

Neila perked up at this and quickly moved to the starboard hatch next to the Irakagei warrior. Minna reluctantly got up from her seat and moved to the starboard hatch next to Neila. Vala and Pazu moved next to their parents at the port hatch.

"Are you all ready," Nelavai asked.

"Yes," Neila replied instantly, "Yes, yes, yes, yes!"

Everyone else gave his or her agreement, though not as enthusiastically as Neila.

"Alright then," Nelavai said as she put her hand over the console, "Gents and ladies, I give you the Irakagei home world."

Nelavai pushed a button, and both of the shuttle's hatches hissed and slid to the side. As it opened, a burst of cool air flooded the ship. Neila'Zorah gripped the side of the hatch, and looked over the landscape of the planet she longed to visit.

"Keelah," Neila gasped, "The vids do not do this world justice!"

It was early morning on the planet Alshezo. The atmosphere intensified the light of the Yame stars; two tiny red disks hung low in a crimson sky.

Down below, a thick forest of trees glowed in numerous shades of red, orange, and gold. The glow from the trees was brighter than the dim red sky.

"I've never seen," Tali commented, "such beautiful plant life."

"I haven't either," Shepard said.

"Never seen it," Pazu asked incredulously, "I've never even heard of plants like this!"

"It's so pretty," Vala said.

"I can't believe that I'm really here," Neila exclaimed.

Out on the port side of the ship, the sky was still dark, illuminated by stars.

On the starboard side, a massive flying insect-like creature suddenly flew outward from above the ship, heading down to the forest below. Neila and Nelavai both jumped at its sudden passing. Minna simply shifted a bit.

"Di dammit," Nelavai gasped, "I hate it when those things do that."

Shepard and Tali looked at Nelavai in surprise.

"Oh," she said, "pardon my Drekach."

"It's not your foul language that we're surprised by," Shepard said, "I just didn't expect to see you startled."

"Ah," Nelavai said, slightly embarrassed.

"That was cool," Neila said, "What was that thing?"

"It was a Vihaki Mora," Nelavai answered, "Don't worry, though. They're harmless unless you attack first." Nelavai looked down and saw another Vihaki Mora rising from the canopy. She quickly pointed it out.

Shepard got a quick look at it before the ship passed by. It looked to him like a giant dragonfly with four thick, segmented legs and a silver exoskeleton. It's tail had what appeared to be a vertical fin sticking out of the top of it.

Tali looked out of the starboard hatch. Movement directly beneath the shuttle caught her eye. For an instant, she saw what she thought was a big snake slithering along the canopy.

"What was that," she asked Nelavai.

"What was what?"

"Just now, I think I saw a great big snake-like thing."

Neila and Nelavai suddenly looked up and moved to Tali's side, looking down.

"Where," they both asked at once.

"Well," Tali answered, "I think we passed it. What was it?"

"You probably saw a Ruk," Nelavai replied, "Now they can be particularly nasty."

"Just how aggressive," Tali asked.

"Well," Nelavai said thoughtfully, "I guess it depend on the individual Ruk. Some can be hostile while others can be passive. They're classified as Alshezo's second most intelligent species."

"Really," Pazu asked, "a snake?"

"Why not a snake," Nelavai asked, "If invertebrates can reach sapience, why can't a snake come close?"

Pazu looked like he was about to make a counter-argument, but thought about Nelavai's words and reconsidered.

"You have a point."

As the ship flew, everyone noticed a smoking mountain moving into view. It was a volcano, and a big one. A large amount of the land surrounding it was almost devoid of trees and other plants.

Nelavai consulted her omni-tool again.

"Airashi Mountain," she said, "It's just one of hundreds of active volcanoes down here."

"Just how big is it," Neila asked.

Nelavai glanced at her omni-tool. "It's about five and a fifth kilometers tall. It erupts about five times a year."

"Standard year," Shepard asked, "or local year?"

"Local," Nelavai answered.

The shuttle cruised over kilometers of rainforest for nearly ten minutes when it suddenly began to ascend. Mountains replaced the forest below.

"Brace yourselves," Nelavai said, "It's going to get a little chilly."

"It's already chilly," Vala pointed out.

Suddenly, the temperature began to drop.

"Don't worry," Nelavai said, "We won't be this high for long."

The ship flew over a range of snowy mountains. The family was startled again when a large bird-like creature flew straight up mere meters from the ship.

Minna gave a low whistle, signaling that she was impressed.

"What was that thing," Vala inquired.

"Not sure," Nelavai said, "Didn't get a good look at it. If I were to guess though, I'd say it was a Xanaxa."

The ship suddenly moved to the right slightly, and quickly flew by a wide smoking crater.

"Another volcano," Pazu asked.

"Mm-hmm," Nelavai replied.

After about two minutes, the ship began to descend again as it cleared the mountain range. Trees began to appear below again, although they were fewer in number. Most of the land was now covered by deep red grassland. Wide clusters of bamboo-like plants were scattered around the field.

Suddenly, several buildings started to pass under the ship. They appeared to be houses. They were spherical in shape. Tiny silhouettes were scattered around the houses.

"Are those Irakagei," Neila asked.

"They are," Nelavai answered.

Shepard shifted his view from the hatch to the forward view screen. He nudged Tali's shoulder. When she looked at him, he indicated the screen.

"Kids," Tali said, "come look at this."

All four of them looked at the view screen. Their eyes widened. Neila ran up to the screen.

Ahead of the ship was a massive city.

"Welcome to Kurivinto," Nelavai said.

**In the next chapter, we land in Kurivinto. Stay tuned.**

**By the way, Some of you have probably noticed the word "Di." It also appears in Mass Effect: Seclusion. The Di is basically the Irakagei's only spiritual deity, at least the only one whose possible existence is still acknowledged by most. In a future chapter, I will talk about the Di in detail.**

**Irakagei fun fact: The average surface temperature on Alshezo is about sixteen degrees Celsius. **

**Irakagei fun fact: Kurivinto covers three times the amount of land as Tokyo on Earth.**


	7. Kurivinto

**Sorry about the wait for this update. I got an urge to start writing a fanfic about the Darkness and got caught up in it. Anyway, in this chapter, the family arrives in Alshezo's capital city, Kurivinto.**

When the ship began passing over the city, almost everyone moved back to either the starboard or port hatches to get a look at the passing megalopolis.

The buildings were unusual. Unlike most Human or Quarian buildings, Irakagei architecture seemed to be cylindrical and conical, as well as domed. Most of the buildings did not have corners or angles. Some of the smaller buildings were spherical, and some of the larger buildings had spherical and dome attachments or sections.

Many of the buildings had bridges that connected them to other buildings. They were clearly designed for pedestrian traffic. There were also long stretches of what appeared to be railways. Shepard thought he caught a glimpse of a train traveling along one, but it was moving too fast for him to be certain of what it was.

The buildings were massive. Many skyscrapers reached as high as two and a half kilometers. Each building had a unique appearance, varying in shape, size, and color.

Numerous flying vehicles zoomed across Kurivinto's airspace, also varying in appearance. Many of them were twice the size of the standard X3M's found in the rest of the known galaxy. Most of them shared the same elongated disk shape as most other Irakagei ships that Shepard has seen.

_I guess that that design really works for them._

Shepard could see thousands of Irakagei all over the city, literally. Not only were they walking along the cities streets and bridges, but on the walls of the buildings as well. Neila, Minna, Pazu, and Vala could not contain their astonishment.

"You know," Shepard whispered to Tali, "I never get used to them doing that."

"You guys are lucky," Vala said to Nelavai.

"Some races get all the breaks," Pazu grumbled.

There were numerous clusters of trees scattered across the city. Some of them were in large groups along the grounds. Shepard guessed that those were parks. Many others were scattered along rooftops and sky bridges.

"What's that place," Minna asked from the port hatch. Shepard moved to stand next to her and looked to where she was pointing. Nelavai stood beside them.

In the distance, Shepard could see what looked like a small volcano surrounded by ruined buildings. Many of the buildings seemed to be half-buried under a wide swath of solid black rock.

"We call that area Magzumei'Foa," Nelavai said, "It means "Lawless city,""

Tali had moved alongside Shepard and Ninna. "Lawless city?"

"Yeah," Nelavai said, "A lot of nasty people live over there. Murderers, street thugs, rapists, you name it. The local police never go in there. Only warriors are sent in there when they need to be."

"Look's like something bad happened over there," Shepard said.

"It did," Nelavai said. "You see that volcano in the middle of it. That's what happened."

The volcano was smaller than the other ones that Shepard has seen. It seemed to be a mere two hundred meters tall.

"Why did you build the city directly below that volcano," Tali asked.

"We didn't," Nelavai said, "That volcano was born after the city around it was built."

"When was that," Neila asked.

"If I remember right," Nelavai said, "It was about fifteen thousand years ago. That section of the city has been a lawless area ever since."

"I'm amazed that those buildings are still standing," Neila commented, "You guys sure build things to last."

"Aren't they concerned," Tali asked, "that that volcano might erupt again?"

"It could happen," Nelavai said, "but they don't care. It still shoots off spurts of lava and ash every now and again, but it hasn't shown signs of a violent eruption since its birth."

"Hmmm," Minna hummed.

"We're not going anywhere near that place," Nelavai said.

The Irakagei warrior moved to the image on the screen. "That's where we're landing," she said, pointing at a tall building on the screen." Shepard moved next to her to get a look.

The building was a tall, cylindrical structure that was roughly fifty meters in diameter, and one hundred and ten meters tall. It had a large cluster of trees on its rooftop.

The Mackchi shuttle slowed down as it approached the building and began descending. Once it was directly over the building, the shuttle ceased all forward movement and slowly dropped downward. On the rooftop, Shepard could see several gaps between the trees, one of which the shuttle was heading for.

Shepard and Tali did a final check on their suits' systems, and checked on those of their children as well. Given the heavy gravity of Alshezo, alien visitors had to wear specially designed mass effect support mechanisms on their suits. They also wore a kind of dense exoskeleton that served to absorb the shock and vibrations of the planet's violent earthquakes.

The ship quickly descended into its docking port. A solid thump emanated through the walls of the ship as a docking plug reached up from the ground and imbedded itself within the bottom of the shuttle, securing it in place.

A small ramp lifted from the ground and onto the lip of the shuttle's floor. While Irakagei preferred to hop out of their ships, alien visitors needed to walk off, because of the gravity.

Once the ramp was secure, Neila performed a biotic dash and teleported onto the rooftop. Her balance was thrown off once she reappeared.

Despite her mass effect supporter, Nelavai could feel the heavy tug of the giant terrestrial world. It felt as if she was wearing a backpack full of heavy engine parts.

Shepard quickly ran down the ramp to his daughter's side. The heavy gravity was disorienting for him too, but his thicker muscles made it easier for him to move. He put a hand to Neila's back and supported her stance.

"Neila," he said, "I know you're eager, but you have to be more careful."

"I know," Neila replied, "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry," Nelavai said, "She'll get used to it once we get moving. Still, you're father's right kiddo."

"All right," Neila said, "I promise to slow down and take this in small steps."

"Thank you, Neila," Shepard said.

"Humans and Irakagei share a certain expression," Nelavai said, "Haste makes waste."

"If I had a credit chit for every time I've heard that one," Pazu commented as he descended the ramp behind his mother.

"Hmm," Minna grunted. She was the last one down the ramp. Tali was supporting Vala in the high gravity.

"Wow," Pazu gasped, "This _IS_ heavy!"

"Don't worry," Nelavai said, "once we get moving, you're supporters should adapt and compensate."

"Then let's get moving," Shepard said.

"You're the boss," Nelavai replied.

As Nelavai led the family across the rooftop, Neila took a look at one of the many tall trees planted on it. She asked the others to slow down, so she could take a look.

The tree looked nothing like any on Rannoch, or on the Human home world of Earth. From the shuttle, she couldn't make out any details on the trees of the forests, but now she had a closer look.

The tree's trunk was thick, wide, and completely black. She moved her had along the length of the trunk. Unlike the rough bark of the trees that she knew, this tree's bark was smooth.

The tree was warm to the touch. To Neila, it felt like she was running her hand along a radiator. It was very pleasant. Her parents and siblings moved up to the tree along with her.

Pazu put his hand to the tree trunk. "Wow," he said, "it feels like laundry fresh out of the dryer!"

"Hmm," Minna hummed. She found the sensation pleasant.

Tali felt the tree and turned to her husband. "Its warm. This feeling kind of reminds me of you."

Shepard smiled and blushed slightly.

"Ew, mom," Pazu snapped, "Please! There are kids present!"

Neila was too focused on the tree to care about her mother's romantic innuendo. She backed up and reached for one of the tree's branches. The branches were too high, so she pulled it down to her with her biotics. She grasped the tip of the bent branch between her thumb and finger.

Unlike other trees, this one did not have leaves. Rather, it had clusters of tiny orbs growing from its branches. They softly glowed an orange-yellow light.

"Hmm," Shepard hummed, looking over the orb clusters, "They remind me of a cluster of grapes."

"You don't say," Neila responded, not looking away from the clusters. She felt one of the orbs with the tip of her left finger, and almost yanked her had away. The orbs were unexpectedly warm. She slowly hovered her finger over the orb. She lightly tapped it with her finger, feeling the texture. It felt somewhat bulbous and squishy.

"Careful that you don't pop them," Nelavai warned, "The liquid inside them is incredibly hot and sticky."

"I see," Neila replied removing her finger from the cluster. She lifted her other arm and released the branch.

"Okay," she said, "I'm ready to go when you guys are."

Nelavai led the family through the trees to a wide, circular doorway. She pressed a button, and the door irised open.

"Neat door," Pazu said.

Inside the door was a large elevator.

"Next stop," Nelavai said, "bottom floor."

**Again, I'm sorry about the delay for this chapter. I hope I didn't cheese anyone off.**

**Irakagei fun fact: Irakagei classify biotic power into six classes: class zero through five. They determine the level of power by the color of the biotic aura that an individual gives off. Given their eyesight, they see ****biotics differently than anyone else.**

**Irakagei biotic classification:**

**Class zero biotics: Red aura. Power equivalent to a standard biotic, such as Alenko, Miranda, Liara, Jacob, etc. Common among other races. Irakagei children are at this level from birth until late adolescence.**

**Class one biotics: Orange aura. Power equivalent to higher level biotics like those of Jack, Samara, or Aria T'Loak. Common among Irakagei.**

**Class two biotics: Yellow aura. Power equivalent to Tela Vasir or a Reaper Banshee. Common among Irakagei who frequently exercise their powers.**

**Class three biotics: Green Aura. No other race has reached this level. Enough power to bring down an alliance frigate with multiple hits. Somewhat rare among Irakagei, usually seen among warriors.**

**Class four biotics: Blue Aura. No other race has reached this level. Powerful enough to devastate anything within a sixty meter radius. Can destroy alliance frigate with one attack, two tops. Rare among Irakagei. Nelavai Shental is at this level.**

**Class five biotics: Purple Aura. No other race has reached this level. Powerful enough to bring down a Reaper destroyer with multiple hits. Can destroy almost everything within a one hundred and twenty meter radius. Very rare among the Irakagei. The Irakagei Empress, Chroa Venshua is at this level.**


	8. Inhabitants of Alshezo

**This chapter is about the family walking through the city. It also gives a detailed explanation of the differences in gender culture among the Irakagei, which is basically opposite to that of Humans.**

Upon reaching the ground floor and leaving the building, Nelavai led Shepard and his family throught the streets of Kurivinto.

It did not take long for their mass effect supporters to adapt to the planet's gravity. The family walked normally as if they were back on Rannoch.

The roads and sidewalks of the city were much wider than any on Earth. In terms of road lanes, the streets of Kurivinto were over eight lanes wide, and the sidewalks were over three lanes wide.

Shepard thought back to something that Nelavai had told him when she led him aboard the Empress's super dreadnought eighteen years ago. "Irakagei like elbow room."

Nelavai certainly wasn't kidding, as the Irakagei clearly built things big. There were hovering vehicles that operated in a similar fashion to the M44 Hammerhead. The vehicles came in many sizes and colors, and shared a similar disk shape to that of Irakagei ships. The smallest vehicles were roughly the size of a hammerhead, while larger ones were as big as a Krogan Tomkah.

From the ground, the buildings looked truly enormous.

Neila was unable to contain her excitement. All around her were hundreds of Irakagei, females, males, and children. Their appearances varied wildly, although all of them shared the same snowy white skin color.

The color of their hair, eyes, and soul marks were very diverse, ranging from red to silver, green to pink, purple to vermillion, brown to turquoise, and so on. Some Irakagei had black hair.

Neila quickly noticed that many of the locals were wearing shirts with images of Alshezo's moons, usually aligned. Clearly, everyone was excited for the upcoming festival.

Neila was snapping pictures left and right with her omni-tool.

For several hours, Nelavai showed the family the city's sights. Several times, the group boarded a taxi or a train. Pazu and Vala were freaked out by how fast Irakagei vehicles went. Neila displayed her excitement for it openly, while Minna just remained calm as usual, going with the flow of things.

As the family moved through the city, Neila couldn't help but ogle the Irakagei males. Pazu eyed the many females, some of which caused his nose to bleed several times. It was easy for him to notice that none of the females seemed to wear any kind of underwear for their breasts. Pazu, although somewhat embarrassed, asked Nelavai why none of them wore bras.

Nelavai simply replied by asking what a bra was, which caused a particularly large volume of blood to shoot out of his nose, some of which splattered across his helmet's visor. Luckily, it was only a small amount on the visor, so he could still see out of it.

No one was sure why, but Irakagei males were very popular among alien women, in much the same way that Asari were popular for alien males, although unlike the Asari, the Irakagei could not reproduce with aliens. It was a strange and mysterious attraction that couldn't be easily explained. Irakagei males were typically smaller or as small as females of most species, typically ranging from five to five-foot-nine in height. They were not usually aggressive, but rather paternal and nurturing, similar to females of most species.

Despite these typically feminine traits, women were still drawn to them. Many suspected that it might be a pheromone thing, although it was rumored that most of them were very well endowed. Unfortunately for the women of most races, Irakagei males were not easily seduced, as they were not as sexually driven as the males of other races. Irakagei females, on the other hand, were quite aggressive sexually.

Eventually, Vala noticed that many of the males wore ponchos of various sizes and colors. They seemed to wear them with pants or shorts, but did not seem to wear anything else under them. What struck her as odd was that none of the women seemed to wear them.

Vala asked Nelavai about it.

"It might be different for other races," Nelavai explained, "but we consider ponchos to be clothing for men. I guess that it's similar to how dresses are considered to be feminine among the other races."

Shepard noticed that Irakagei women dressed in such a way that was considered by some to be masculine. None of them wore dresses, skirts, or high-heeled shoes, but dressed in pants and shirts, and wore the Irakagei equivalent of tennis shoes. Boots seemed to be popular for both genders.

None of the Irakagei women seemed to care as much about their appearance as the women of other races. While some had their hair well combed, many of them had somewhat messy hair. Very few females wore any kind of makeup, jewelry, or perfume.

"Oh, wow," Tali said softly. Shepard turned to her and saw that she was looking up at the sky. Shepard and the others looked up.

The suns were higher in the sky. The disks of the tiny, distant stars were no longer visible as they were drowned out in pinkish-white sunlight. When the suns rose higher, the color of the sky had changed as well.

The stars were no longer visible, as their light was overpowered by the dim daylight. While the sky was blue, it was a deeper and darker blue that the skies of Earth or Rannoch. It was ultramarine.

**Author's note: I love ultramarine. Not my favorite color, but it is my favorite shade of blue. Vermillion is my favorite shade of red.**

Several large points of light were visible in the sky. Nelavai explained that they were the other worlds of the Yame system. Their proximity to Alshezo made them appear very bright.

Tali's thoughts were interrupted when something collided with her right hip. She looked down and saw that a green-haired Irakagei child had bumped into her. Without any acknowledgement, the young girl started to take off running.

Nelavai quickly responded by hitting the child with a pull field, lifting her off of her feet and into the air. The little girl floated toward Nelavai. Once within reach, Nelavai grasped the child's tail and held her upside down.

Tali almost scolded the adult Irakagei when she noticed that the child was holding and arc pistol. Tali looked down to her hip and saw that her pistol was not there.

"Hey," Tali shouted, "That's my gun!"

Nelavai held her free hand out to the child. "Give it back," she commanded.

After a moment of struggling, the little girl placed the pistol in Nelavai's hand. Nelavai set the child down gently. "Now scoot!"

The little girl obeyed, immediately taking off in a series of biotic dashes.

"And another thing," Nelavai shouted after her, "why aren't you in school?"

Nelavai turned to Tali and handed her pistol back to her. Tali placed it back into her hip holster.

"Thank you, general," Tali said.

"That's why I'm here," Nelavai responded.

"Keelah," Pazu said to Nelavai, "You're quick!"

"Thank you."

"I guess," Shepard said, "That every race has pickpockets."

Nelavai continued to lead the family throughout the city. After another hour, they found themselves standing on a tall bridge, overlooking a vast river fifteen meters below that ran through the city. The river was roughly three kilometers wide.

Minna hummed a sigh of contentment as she took in the view of the dark blue river. Down below, several hovercrafts were visible skimming the river's surface.

Neila turned when a flicker of movement flashed out of the corner of her eye, and spotted an Irakagei woman, half naked, wearing only a pair of boxer-like underwear, pull herself out of the river and drag a sizable fish out of the water behind her. The woman's "attire" caused Pazu to bleed from the nose again.

"Bosh'tet," he yelled.

"Hey," Tali snapped, "Watch your language, young man. And avert your eyes for goodness sakes," Tali moved her hand in front of Pazu's visor, obscuring his view of the half-naked Irakagei. She was about to lift her hand to Shepard's eyes when she noticed that he had already turned his back to the river behind him.

"I'm not looking," her husband reassured, "I know better!"

"Better believe it," Tali mumbled with a sly grin.

"That is a big fish," Vala said.

The large fish a long, narrow creature with a snubbed nose and three sets of glowing green eyes. Its scales were purple. The fish thrashed violently, emanating chaotic biotic distortions as it struggled. The Irakagei woman pulled a large sword-like weapon from the ground and hit the fish with a biotic field, which quelled some of its thrashing.

"Uh oh," Nelavai said, "Vala, you had better look away. This is going to get gruesome."

Vala looked to Nelavai in confusion, then back to the fish. Tali moved her free hand to cover Vala's visor.

"Mooommmmmm!"

The Irakagei woman below was roughly six-foot-one, and had short hair that was a bronze color. Her eyes glowed a bright maroon, and her body was covered head-to-toe with soul marks. Her soul marks were mostly diagonal brown stripes.

The woman slashed at the fish with her sword, causing a huge amount of dark pink blood to spew violently from a long wound on its stomach.

Minna's eyes widened. "Uggh!"

"Keelah," Neila and Tali said simultaneously.

"What," Shepard said, still holding his back to the river, "What happened?"

"Nothing," Nelavai said, "Just some lady cleaning a fish."

The woman was drenched in the fish's blood, but did not seem to mind. She casually walked back to the river and dunked herself back into it. She came back up, the blood cleaned off. She pulled herself back onto the concrete walk and grabbed a nearby towel to dry herself off.

"That water looks freezing," Neila said to Nelavai," How can you swim in it?"

"We have a lower metabolism than you do," Nelavai answered, "and a lower body temperature. We can tolerate colder temperatures more than most."

"Oh," Neila replied.

"Unfortunately," Nelavai said, "this means that we have a low tolerance for hot weather."

"So much for all of the breaks," Pazu said.

The Irakagei fisherwoman was beginning to reach into the fish's corpse. She started pulling out its innards and tossing them back into the river.

"Uggh," Tali groaned, still covering the visors of her two youngest children "maybe we should let her clean that thing in private."

Minna immediately raised her hand. "Seconded!"

"Agreed," Neila said.

"Aw, c'mon," Pazu objected, "I wanna see what's happening."

"Too bad," Tali said as she began leading him and Vala away. The rest of the group followed.

They were about halfway across the bridge when Minna unexpectedly voiced a question.

"General Shental, I remember you saying something back on the shuttle."

Nelavai turned her head to look over her shoulder. "What's that?"

"You said, "Di dammit"," Minna replied, "What does "Di" mean? Is that some kind of god?"

"Hmmm," Nelavai hummed thoughtfully, "You know what? I think I could explain that better with some visual context."

"Visual," Shepard asked.

"Sure," Nelavai answered, "Come with me."

**In the next chapter, Nelavai will explain to the family what the Di is.**


	9. The Di

**This is the chapter where you will learn about the Di, the only spiritual being that the Irakagei still believe exists. **

**Warning: may blow your mind.**

Nelavai had flagged down another taxi, which flew the family to a building several kilometers away from the bridge.

The building was a dome, roughly seven stories high. Its outer walls appeared to be made out of a form of brick that was painted indigo. The dome was an old building.

"What is this place," Shepard asked.

"This," Nelavai said, "Is the Goreila art museum."

Neila's eyes widened. "Oh, cool!"

"So this is where you will explain to us what the Di is," Shepard asked.

"Yup," Nelavai responded. She led the family up a staircase and through a large, circular stone door. The interior of the building was pitch-black. Luckily, aliens were supplied with tools for the dark.

The family brought up their omni-tools, and pressed several buttons. A projector in their helmets placed a holographic visor over their eyes. A false-color image of the dark energy spectrum flooded into their eyes.

"Neat," Neila said, "So this is how you see the world, Nelavai?"

"Probably not the way you're seeing it," the guide responded, "you're looking through a false-color image, so I'm not sure that you're seeing the world exactly the same way that I am."

The museum's interior was fully visible. The holographic visors within the family's helmets highlighted the biotic auras of the Irakagei, and the mass effect lighting of the building was visible to them as well.

Nelavai led them through the museum. The family looked in aw at the various paintings, sculptures, and other forms of art displayed throughout the building.

Eventually, Nelavai led the family to a single display on the fourth floor of the building.

"Here we are," Nelavai said, indicating several paintings on the wall in front of them.

The largest painting was of a flat, black landscape beneath a night sky. The stars in the sky seemed to be surprisingly few in number and widely scattered. A single star was much brighter than the rest, and seemed to be the main source of illumination in the painting.

The primary focus of the painting was of a strange figure crouched in the middle of the image. The figure was certainly an Irakagei, given the large tail that it sported, but the details were mostly covered, as the figure was curled up in a sitting fetal position. Its arms were hugging its legs, in which its face was buried. Its tail was wrapped around most of its body.

In an adjacent painting, The figure was no longer curled up on the ground, but standing up, facing the direction of the viewer.

"Is that the Di," Tali asked.

"It is," Nelavai affirmed.

The Irakagei in the picture seemed to be wearing a solid black, single-piece skintight suit of some kind. The suit was very snug.

Shepard could not tell if the Di was supposed to be male or female. It did not sport the wide hips or the large breast that Irakagei women had, nor did it have the wider shoulders or noticeable groin-bulge of the men of the species. It appeared to be completely androgynous.

"Is that a boy or a girl," Vala asked Nelavai.

"Don't know," Nelavai answered.

That answer had surprised Shepard. Most religions seemed to have more detail than that. He had not expected a "don't know" out of Nelavai.

The Di in the paintings had long, white hair. It wasn't until he saw this painting that Shepard realized that he had not seen white hair on any Irakagei before. He had also not seen any with the Di's eye color or soul marks.

The Di's irises were a bright white. Shepard could only see two soul marks on the Di's face. Both of them were black curved stripes that seemed to run over its eyelids.

Shepard could not guess anything on the Irakagei spirits personality. He could not tell if it was some kind of a benevolent god, or a demon, or anything like that.

"What exactly is the Di," Neila asked.

"No one is sure," Nelavai answered.

Shepard was really starting to get puzzled. _No on is sure?_

"You make it sound like an urban legend," Shepard said, "I always figured that people were more sure about gods."

"I never said," Nelavai corrected, "that it was a god."

"You mean its not?"

"Actually, we are really not sure."

Shepard was starting to get a little annoyed, and Nelavai took notice. She quickly held her hand up to him.

"Let me explain it as best I can," she said. She led them away from the paintings to a bench to sit down on.

"Here's what I know," she explained, "The Di is not simply something that was created by us for the purpose of religious worship. It's something that we've…seen…since prehistoric times."

"Seen," Neila asked.

"Well, more like dreamed of," Nelavai said, "It's something that we sometimes see in dreams. Not everyone dreams about it, but there are plenty that have."

"So what do people think it actually is," Tali asked.

"Well," Nelavai said, "Many people think that it is the soul of our entire race, the collective spirit of the Irakagei. Many believe that when we die, our souls become a part of the Di itself."

"So," Shepard said, "Not a god, then?"

"Probably not," Nelavai said, "I'd say that the closest Human equivalent would be you're "grim reaper," or a "Shinigami."

"Hmm," Minna hummed thoughtfully.

"As I said though," Nelavai continued, "No one knows for sure. Some don't think that it's an angel of death at all. Another popular theory states that the Di might just be some metaphorical representation created by all of our unconscious minds. Some think that this is a sign of unconscious mental connection between the minds of all Irakagei."

Vala and Pazu stared at Nelavai in confusion.

"I know," Nelavai said to them, "Even I don't completely get it."

"You're saying," Minna said, "that the minds of all Irakagei are connected somehow, and that the Di might somehow be the connection?"

"Something like that," Nelavai said, "Though we still haven't proven that theory, or any theory about the Di."

"Why didn't you just say it that way," Pazu asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, your highness," Nelavai said sarcastically, "next time I'll be sure to put it in baby-talk for you."

"Don't have to be rude," Pazu snapped.

"You're right," Nelavai said, "I'm sorry. That was rude."

"Does the Di," Neila asked, "Always look like that in dreams?"

"From what I hear," Nelavai said, "yes."

"I take it that you haven't dreamed about it," Shepard asked.

"Nope."

"Those were nice paintings," Vala commented, "Who painted them?"

"A woman named Maraila Toriaka," Nelavai answered, "I think she painted those roughly twenty four thousand years ago."

"Old paintings," Minna commented.

"Are those paintings of a dream that she had," Tali inquired.

"No," Nelavai answered, "Those are paintings of what she claimed to see when she died. Don't be confused, she was revived after a few minutes, but she claimed that she saw the Di, and its domain."

"Its domain looks pretty dark," Neila said.

"Very interesting," Minna commented.

"This is a pretty nice museum," Shepard said, "How about we see the rest of it?"

Everyone else agreed.

"You're the boss," Nelavai said.

**Pretty bizarre, huh? Hope it wasn't too confusing.**

**Irakagei fun fact: Irakagei have two hearts, one on each side of the chest. **

**Irakagei fun fact: Though most Irakagei believe that the Di exists, the vast majority doesn't worship it as a god or fear it as a demon. They simply believe that it exists.**


	10. Older Sister

**Sorry I've waited so long to do chapter ten. I wrote another fanfic, and it turned out better than my last attempt on a story that isn't Mass Effect. **

**After that though, I sort of lost my mood to write, but I got it back for now. **

**Anyhow, after leaving the museum and walking around a little more, the group runs into one of Nelavai's relatives. In this chapter, you learn about Nelavai's family.**

**(Chapter Begins)**

After leaving the museum, Nelavai continued to tour Shepard, Tali, and their progeny around Kurivinto. After another two hours of walking, everyone was starting to get hungry.

Since the family was trapped within their environmental suits, they had to eat nutrient paste. Nelavai stopped at a street vendor near a large park and bought a kind of meat sandwich.

Nelavai led the family into the park and found a large round picnic table. Upon sitting down, Shepard opened up a pack and gave Tali and their kids pouches of nutrient paste. They began eating through straws on the pouches.

"Yeachh," Neila said upon sampling the paste for the first time in her life, "Did our people really used to eat this crap on a regular basis?"

"They did indeed," Tali answered. She took a sip of her own paste, causing her to shiver with disgust. "It is a surprise that there was a time when I was used to this stuff."

"That is hard to believe," Shepard said after tasting his.

Thanks to Shepard's Reaper cybernetics, Shepard was able to alter his body chemistry to allow him to eat dextro-amino acid based food. His cybernetics also allowed him to alter his genetics to the point where he was able to have his four children with Tali.

**(For more details on this, read Mass Effect: Reanimation)**

"At least it's healthy," Tali said.

"Why is it that everything that's good for you has to taste so terrible," Pazu groaned after eating some of his."

"It tastes like evil," Vala said.

"How about you, Minna," Tali asked her second born, "Any comments from you?"

"Hmmm," Minna hummed as she slurped the last of the paste from its pouch.

"Fast eater," Nelavai said.

Neila took a look at Nelavai's sandwich, which was already half-eaten.

"An what is that you're eating," she asked the Irakagei.

"Boko sandwich," she answered, "with cheese."

"What's book?"

"A kind of meat."

"From what animal?"

"Golk."

Before Neila could ask what a Golk was, Nelavai projected an image of one with her omni-tool. The image was of a large quadrupedal mammal with a large hump on its back. It had a thick neck and large, spiral horns jutting from under its short pointed ears.

"I see," Neila said. "Taste good?"

"Yup."

Neila was taken by surprise when the sunlight on Nelavai began to dim, and the light from the grass and trees around the park suddenly became brighter. Apparently, the rest of her family saw this two, as they looked around in confusion.

It didn't take long for everyone to look up at the sky. They saw that the sky was dark, and the suns were gone. They quickly noticed a thin bow of red light in the spot where the suns were.

"What the…" Shepard asked.

"Eclipse," Minna said calmly.

"Oh, yeah," Pazu said, "I guess it is."

"Yup," Nelavai said. Neila was amazed at how unimpressed the Irakagei was. After looking around, she saw that none of the locals were the least bit surprised by it.

"You sound like you've seen dozens of eclipses," Tali said to Nelavai.

"On this world," Nelavai said, "a week doesn't go by with out an eclipse."

"Well," Tali said thoughtfully," Given the size and distance of the suns, and the proximity of the moons, I guess that makes sense."

"The grass is so pretty," Vala said with joy, "And look at the flowers."

Shepard took a look around and couldn't help but agree. The lights of the grass and trees illuminated the area around them with an orange glow. Numerous flowers added other colors to the mix, adding blues and greens to the mix.

"Which moon is that," Neila asked Nelavai.

The Irakagei guide looked up in the sky as she moved her sandwich up to her mouth.

"I think," Her translator said as she took a bite of the sandwich, "that's…"

"Haidu," A voice suddenly said from behind her. While she did not recognize the voice on its owner's translator, Nelavai recognized the biotic voice all too well.

"Oh no," Nelavai groaned, her teeth still stuck in the sandwich, "Not her."

Neila looked past Nelavai and saw another Irakagei approaching. Judging from Nelavai's reaction, it was someone she knew, and not n a good way.

The newcomer was six feet and two inches tall, two inches taller than Nelavai. Her light brown hair was tied into a short ponytail. She had fierce eyes that glowed a golden yellow. Her tiny spotted soul marks were Tuscan red, and were scattered all across her face, arms, and tail, giving her a freckled appearance.

She wore black, leathery pants and a pair of red sneaker-like shoes, as well as what appeared to be a blue t-shirt with a picture of one of the large Vihaki Mora creatures on the front of it. On her left arm was a strap, which is presumably an omni-tool, along with a translator.

Tali looked at Nelavai and saw that her glowing orange eyes had narrowed into an angry glare. She slowly pulled a chunk of her sandwich into her mouth and began chewing slowly and roughly.

_Not a friend, I suppose,_ Tali thought.

The taller Irakagei walked up to the table and stopped in front of the bench, standing next to Nelavai. The latter Irakagei did not look up from her sandwich.

"That's Haidu up there," the taller Irakagei said to Neila, "blocking the sun."

"Oh," Neila replied, a little puzzled by the newcomer.

The new arrival turned her head to face Nelavai. A smug smile was spread across her face.

"Hello there, Nel," the taller Irakagei said to Nelavai, "Funny bumping into you here."

"Fuck off," Nelavai answered abruptly.

Shepard and most of his Quarian family suddenly froze.

"Hmm," Mina hummed calmly.

"Oh, come on," The freckled Irakagei said, her smile not fading, "You've got to lighten up, sis."

Neila's ears suddenly twitched.

_Sis?_

"I was actually peachy," Nelavai replied, her translator's voice simulating an angry grimace, "until you showed up."

"This doesn't look good," Tali whispered to Shepard. Her husband shook is head in response.

"Why are you always so grumpy with me," the tall Irakagei asked Nelavai in condescending tone.

"Because I hate you're guts, and you know it."

"Are you still mad about me stealing Vonoku away from you?"

"Vonoku? Noooo. Why would I still be angry about that…Oh, that's right. You always steal my boyfriends."

"Oh, come on. You've got to let that go. It was so long ago."

"It was three months ago, genius!"

"Excuse me," Shepard interjected, "Would you like to introduce us to you're…acquaintance?"

Both Irakagei looked to Shepard, and then to each other. Nelavai bowed her head in frustration.

"Commander Shepard," she sighed, "Tali'Zorah. Kids. Meet Nora Shental."

"Charmed," Nora said.

"Relative of yours," Tali asked.

"Older sister," Nelavai groaned.

"I never would have guessed that you had a sister," Neila said with a smile under her mask. Nelavai could hear the interest and eagerness in the young Quarian's voice.

"Are you a warrior too," Shepard asked Nora.

Nora reached over her shoulder and pulled a shorter version of the swords that many Irakagei warriors used. The sword was sheathed.

"General Nora Shental," Nora said.

"It would seem that you two don't get along well."

"It would appear so," Nora said, "Why is that, sis?"

"Because you've always gotten off on annoying me!"

"Now what have I done that's so bad," Nelavai turned and glared at her older sister, "Besides stealing your boyfriends…since high school."

Nelavai calmly put her sandwich down on the table and spun around in her seat to face her sister. She pulled her own sword from her back and held it vertically in her left hand, driving the end of the sheath into the stone bench.

"let's think here," Nelavai said angrily, "You killed my first pet."

"Ms. Gigama," Nora asked, "The Chiaha? That was an accident."

"I know, but I caught you trying to flush it down the toilet behind my back. When I caught you, you tried to blame killing her on Bakashi."

"Lucky for Bakashi, dad has always been so perceptive."

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you were the one who killed my Chiaha. You were the one who was trying to dispose of the body, after all."

"Touché."

"Now I know I don't need to remind you about the incident with my first sky car."

"Oh, here we go."

"You stole my car…" Nelavai began.

"Borrowed it," Nora interjected.

"Got drunk…" Nelavai continued, "with a bunch of you're buddies, got chased by a bunch of cops all around the town…"

"Yeah…"

"And smashed it into three buildings at high speed…"

"I said I was sorry…"

"Damaging the car beyond repair."

"It wasn't that bad."

"It was broken in HALF," Nelavai shouted unexpectedly, causing Shepard and his family to jump suddenly.

"Well this is certainly entertaining," Pazu said.

"Girls will be girls," Nora said.

"Yeah," Nelavai said, "Do I need to go on?"

"No," Nora said, "I think we all get the message."

"So what do you want," Nelavai asked, relaxing her grip on her sword.

"What do you mean," Nora asked.

"Don't give me that. You didn't simply run into us down here. You came with an active translator, meaning you were expecting to meet with aliens today."

"Observant as always," Nora commented.

"Well?"

"Well, I heard that you were assigned as a guide to Commander Shepard, and I wanted to see if it was true."

"Technically, I'm on leave," Nelavai said.

"Uh-huh," Nora said.

"Now that your curiosity is satisfied," Nelavai said as she extended her right arm and pointing her index finger to some trees in the west, "There's a lake in that direction that you can go jump into."

"Okay then," Nora said, "Have it your way."

Nora turned to face the alien family. "It was nice to meet you and your family, Commander."

"Likewise," Shepard said.

Nora then turned around and walked away.

"Qikacha," Nelavai cursed.

"Well," Tali said, "that was…unexpected."

"So that's your older sister," Neila asked.

"Yeah," Nelavai sighed, "She's a very powerful warrior, even more powerful than I am. She's earned her rank. Despite this, she still finds it necessary to get under my skin."

"Who is Bakashi," Pazu asked.

"Huh," Nelavai asked, "Oh, him. He's my older brother. He's also the oldest of my siblings."

"How many siblings do you have," Neila asked.

"Well, Bakashi and Nora are the two oldest, with me being the third born," Nelavai answered, "After me, there's my younger sister, Matami, and then my two younger brothers, Jihan and Nikokama."

"That's a lot of children," Tali commented.

"Wait a minute," Shepard asked, "Didn't the Empress mention that your mom was the commander on one of those super dreadnoughts?"

"Yeah," Nelavai affirmed, "The _Chubin_,"

"Wow," Neila said, "Doesn't that mean that she's one of the strongest Irakagei alive?"

"It certainly does."

"I'm starting to see a pattern here," Shepard said, "It seems like most of you're family are warriors."

"Well both of my parents are warriors, yes," Nelavai said, "but it's mostly the women who become warriors."

"Why's that," Pazu asked.

"Don't know. All I know is that the love for battle runs in the X-chromosome of my family."

"The love for battle," Neila asked.

"Yeah. Don't ask me why, but we love battle. Even if we try to avoid it, battle always manages to find us. And no matter how much we try to deny it, we enjoy it. It's just how we are."

"You really can't avoid it," Shepard asked.

"Not easily," Nelavai answered, "My sister, Matami, tried to turn away from it for a while, like my brothers are able to do, but battle always managed to find her. Eventually, she gave up and became a warrior herself."

"Why did she not want to fight," Neila asked, "Did she really not like it?"

"No, she loves battle," Nelavai said, "Which was why she tried to turn away from it."

"I see," Neila said.

"Hmm," Mina said.

"A family of fighting women," Pazu said, "Cool."

"How long have the Shentals been that way," Neila asked.

"Thousands of years," Nelavai replied, "since even before the Prothean invasion of Alshezo."

"More than fifty thousand years," Neila asked, "Amazing!"

"This vacation is certainly interesting," Tali whispered to Shepard.

"I'm glad that the kids are having such a good time," Shepard whispered back to her.

**(Chapter Ends)**

**Irakagei fun fact: In their language, the word Irakagei means person. The word is also split in two into Ira and Kagei. **

**Irakagei fun fact: In their language, the word Ira means woman, and the word Kagei means man.**

**Irakagei fun fact: When Irakagei reproduce, their daughters inherit their mother's last name, while their sons get their father's.**


	11. Stargazing

**This next chapter skips a few hours ahead, when night is beginning to fall. As the suns set, Nelavai takes the family to a cool area outside of Kurivinto where they can watch Alshezo's night sky.**

**(Chapter begins)**

Their shuttle was flying away from the Kurivinto city limits, its doors open. The tiny red Yame stars were slowly setting, casting a deep red light over the planet's western horizon sky.

Everyone watched the sunset as the shuttle flew over the planet's glowing landscape. Alshezo's grasses and trees glowed shades of orange, red, and yellow, outshining the glow of the distant suns.

"With trees like those," Pazu commented, "Who needs a sun?"

"Enjoy them while you can, kid," Nelavai said, "We're about to head back into those snowy mountains we passed early this morning."

"Remind me," Tali requested, "Why do we have to look at the sky from the freezing cold mountains?"

"While I cannot see the light given off by the trees," Nelavai replied, "You can. If we tried to look at the sky from a lush area, the light pollution would make it harder to see the stars."

Tali peered her head out the window and looked back toward Kurivinto. The city was visible only as a faint silhouette, lacking any city lights.

"And we can't look at them from the city…" she began.

"Because I can see the light given off by Kurivinto's buildings and streetlights," Nelavai finished, "While you can't see the light I see, it is too bright for me. I wouldn't be able to see the stars."

"Got it," Tali said.

The numbers of plants below started to lessen, and the temperature began to drop.

"Yikes," Neila said, "that's chilly."

The ground below was mostly cast in darkness, with a few patches of small plants dotting the cold surface.

The shuttle began to rise, climbing in altitude as it approached the mountain range. As they reached the top of the range, the shuttle turned ninety degrees and began to fly along the mountains.

In less than a minute, the shuttle began to descend on a particularly tall mountain. As it descended, a trio of landing struts emerged from the underside and planted themselves in the deep snow.

In the distance, the suns were almost lost below the horizon. Higher up, one of Alshezo's moons hung low in the sky, an orange crescent shining in the direction of the suns. On the moon's night side, a large volcano blazed furiously, illuminating the smoke clouds and surface features around it.

Before anyone could step off of the shuttle, Nelavai intervened.

"Everyone wait here," she said as she pulled a jacket from an overhead storage compartment, "I need to clear the area first."

"What do you mean," Tali asked, "Is there something dangerous up here?"

Nelavai pulled the jacket over her arms. Her jacket appeared to be made out of some kind of leather that was red in color. On the back of the jacket was a detailed illustration of an orange haired Irakagei man holding a pair of heavy looking pistols. Beneath the man was a line of blue text written in a language that none of the Quarians or Shepard could read.

"These mountains," Nelavai explained as she picked up her sword, "are crawling with creatures called Bilsh. Given their habitat, they're not really picky about what they eat. They sometimes like to hunt at night."

Neila held out her sword, and gave a biotic command. Its sheath broke into separate yet connected shard like it did before, which folded over one another until they settled near the hilt.

"Just stay put for a moment," she said. With that she walked into the snow and closed the hatch.

The four young quarians talked with one another while everyone waited. Shepard couldn't help but notice Tali looking toward the hatch.

"Tali," Shepard asked, "Something on your mind?"

"Do you remember," Tali inquired, "when I told you that Nelavai was the one who saved my grandfather from the collectors so many years ago?"

**(Read Mass Effect: Seclusion)**

"Yeah," Shepard said, "what about it?"

"I just wish that I could see her in action," Tali answered, "I would like to see what my grandfather saw…as well as what you saw."

"I can tell you now," Shepard said, "she is everything you're grandfather described."

"I know," Tali said, "but I've always wanted to see what an Irakagei could do, especially Shental, when I was little. I'd like to see it with my own eyes."

Before Shepard could say anything else, the shuttle's hatch opened again. Nelavai stepped back onto the shuttle.

"Look's like we're clear out there," she said as she walked back to the storage compartment. "Hope you guys like snow."

Nelavai pulled an object that looked like a high tech telescope with a reflective black lense.

This reminded Shepard to pull out his own high power binoculars from his backpack. Modern technology allowed the manufacture of binoculars that were as powerful as large telescopes.

"Alright," Nelavai said, "all of you keep close to me. Just because there are no Bilsh out there now doesn't mean they won't turn up."

"Got it," Neila said.

"Vala," Shepard said to his youngest daughter, "I'd like you to hold my hand."

"Okay, daddy," the little Quarian said. She grasped his left hand and walked off of the ship with him.

Shepard and the rest of his family activated the flashlights on their omnitools and followed Nelavai. The tall Irakagei led them to a spot roughly thirty meters away from the shuttle.

"This should do it," she said as she looked up into Alshezo's night sky.

"Okay, kids," Shepard said, "time to turn off your flashlights."

Once the flashlights were deactivated, the only illumination around them came from the stars above, as the suns had completely set already.

"Pretty stars, aren't they," Nelavai asked.

"Pretty," Vala said.

Shepard bent over and lifted his younger daughter onto his shoulder. She let off a surprised squeal.

"How's the view," Shepard asked.

"Much better," Vala answered with glee.

The most impressive objects in the sky were Alshezo's neighboring planets. Given their close proximity, the other planets of the Yame system were much brighter than those that moved through the skies of Rannoch or Earth.

Shepard lifted his binoculars up to his visor and looked at one of the bright planets. Through the binoculars, the planet was enlarged greatly. It was not what he had expected.

"Excuse me," Shepard said to Nelavai, "but what planet is that?"

Tali lowered her binoculars and looked to where Shepard was pointing. Nelavai shifted her own telescope to where Shepard was pointing.

"That is planet Valdai," Nelavai answered.

Shepard looked at it again through the binoculars. "It looks just like Alshezo."

Through the binoculars, Valdai was in a gibbous phase. Like Alshezo, the planet was covered in white clouds, dark blue oceans, and red continents. To the left of the planet, Shepard could see two moons.

"That is why," Nelavai said, "Valdai is known to us as Alshezo's twin."

"You mean it's like that naturally," Tali asked, looking at it through her binoculars.

"What is this one," Neila asked.

Nelavai looked through her telescope at the planet Neila was looking at.

"Puk'krak," Nelavai answered, "Seventh planet in the inner Yame system."

Shepard shifted his focus to Puk'krak. The planet appeared to be a gas giant, covered by bands of brown and orange clouds. A large moon hung in front of the planet, another apparent twin of Alshezo.

"Before you ask," Nelavai said, "Puk'krak's moon is not like that naturally. We shezoformed it ages ago.

"Shezoformed," Minna asked.

"Our equivalent of terraforming," Nelavai said, not looking away from Puk'krak. "We change a planet's environment to be more like Alshezo's."

"Ah," Minna said. She then resumed looking at the sky.

"You would think that a gas giant would have more moons than that," Neila said.

"Puk'krak is not a gas giant," Nelavai said, "It would be more accurate to call it a gas dwarf."

"Ah," Neila said, "So it's something between a terrestrial planet and a gas giant?"

"Yes," Nelavai said.

"Now this is cool," Pazu exclaimed.

Shepard looked to the east, where Pazu was looking. Hanging low on the eastern horizon was a bright red star.

_The outer suns._

Shepard looked through the binoculars at the red pinpoint of light. Through the lenses, the two distant red dwarfs stood side-by-side. Far off to one side, Shepard could see a faint object.

_Must be one of the planets orbiting the outer stars._

"That _is_ cool," Shepard agreed.

"What are you looking at, Ms. Nelavai," Neila asked.

"I'm looking at my home system," she answered, "Xisayu system."

Everyone continued stargazing for about half-an-hour, until everyone started to get sleepy. To no one's surprise, Minna was the sleepiest one.

"Alright, everyone," Nelavai said, "I guess its time to head back to the shuttle."

"No arguments here," Tali yawned. "I think we're all getting sleepy."

"Speak for yourself," Neila said.

**(Chapter Ends)**

**Irakagei fun fact: The planet Valdai was the first world colonized by the Irakagei soon after they achieved spaceflight.**

**Irakagei fun fact: During the time of the Leviathans millions of years ago, planet Valdai was the home world of an Eezo based race called the Zolians. At the same time, Alshezo was the homeworld of another Eezo race called the Tenklan. Both races were allies, and were rebels against the Laviathans.**

**Irakagei fun fact: Both the Tenklan and the Zolians were wiped out during the earliest days of the Reaper harvests. Both species were harvested and processed to create the first Devastator-class Reapers. **


End file.
